"Wolff, my dear, is the toad-eater. In the old days every great man kept a toad-eater; sometimes his functions were highly paid--Wolff's are, I fancy. A dish of toads of the largest and most repulsive variety used to be offered one by one to the big man's relatives and guests. A good many would partake of them. It was the toad-eater's office to devour the remainder with apparent gusto." "Reginald, you're a wretch! and I don't believe a word of it," said Lucy. Haggard yawned, drained his glass, and they retired to prepare themselves for the journey to Walls End Castle, which was to take place on the morrow. Lord Pit Town was determined, on this occasion at least, to break through the rule which he had stringently observed since his return to Walls End Castle. For many years no lady had graced the great old house with her presence. It was considerably to Justice Haggard's astonishment that he heard of the invitation to his son and his son's wife. "Hetton won't like it," he muttered to himself, as with the point of his stick he gently titillated the back of one of his favourite black pigs. The animal stood perfectly still, grunting with suppressed delight. "Hetton will be decidedly savage," mused the old gentleman. "I wonder whether Reginald will get something in the will?" pondered his father, his eyes fixed on the black pig's ears. "He's a lucky beggar, Reginald, a very lucky beggar, and Warrender's daughter is more than he deserves." Few fathers think that any woman is more than their son deserves, particularly when that son is an only son, wealthy, and a possible heir to a peerage; but we may take it that Justice Haggard knew pretty well what his son deserved, and that when he considered Georgie "more than his son deserved," Justice Haggard was probably right. If the prodigal really had his deserts he would still be chewing husks with the Mexican swine--husks which the magnificent specimen of the porcine race who was so delightedly submitting to the caresses of the Justice's stick would doubtlessly have indignantly rejected. "I wonder why," continued the meditating Justice, "Hetton don't marry?" Perhaps Mademoiselle Zizine, of the French theatre, was the reason--who knows? Hetton didn't go into society, not that society wouldn't have been very glad to receive Lord Hetton, being Lord Hetton, even if he had been a Siamese twin or a Spotted Boy, which he wasn't. But Lord Hetton found that society cost money, and only placed an additional barrier between him and the object of his ambition--the blue ribbon of the turf. Hence when Lord Hetton sought distraction from race meetings and Tattersall's, he found it in the society of Mademoiselle Zizine and her like.